Arts and Crafts Projects for a Winter’s Day

Posted on 18 January 2011 by christao408

Day two of the bathroom tile work is underway. Tawn, the handyman, and I spent ten minutes discussing the different options for how best to arrange the tile. It is kind of hard to explain, and I’ll post pictures about the whole process once it is done, but the challenge is in how the shower glass and tile floor come together. For some reason, building a lip like you have in western-style showers is just beyond comprehension here. Plus, it would require us to replace the glass we currently have.

Anyhow, while I wait for that project to come to a (hopefully satisfactory) conclusion, I want to share a picture that I took of some new year’s decorations at Siam Center mall. This was one of the first malls in Bangkok, dating back to 1973. It has undergone countless rennovations (two in the five years since I moved here) to keep it fresh for the young crowd and it has managed to remain popular.

Siam Center as it looked shortly after its opening in 1973. On the right is Rama 1 Road (which becomes Sukhumvit further east). The space on the left is what today is Siam Discovery Center and a multistory car park is back behind (to the left in this picture) of the malls today. Siam Paragon, which was built on the site of the former Intercontinental Hotel, now sits down the street (to the right in this picture) of Siam Center.

From another angle looking towards Rama I Road and Siam Square on the far side. This picture is taken from roughly where the large LED video screens are in the plaza between Siam Center and Siam Paragon.

The same side of the Siam Center mall today, with the Siam BTS Skytrain Station in the background. Amazing how young and fresh Siam Center looks. Must be the availability of inexpensive, high quality face-lifts here in Thailand!

The mall has three four-story atrium areas and these are currently decorated with these large signs as well as smaller shapes. At first they didn’t catch my attention. But as I looked more closely I started to wonder what they were made of. It looks like color pencils.

Turns out, they are constructed of plastic straws! At first I thought they were solid objects but eventually I figured out that the shapes are formed of plastic sheets with straws glued on top. The sides, though, are made of thousands of straws. Tedious work to make, I’d imagine…

Food in Bangkok: New York Cheesecake

Posted on 13 January 2011 by christao408

New York is a city that holds a special place in the imagination of many people around the world. So it is no surprise to see the mystique of New York used to sell everything from condos to makeup here in Bangkok. The most recent addition to this “Big Appleing” of Bangkok is a small restaurant at the Crystal Design Center: NYCC – New York City Cheesecake.

Located in a rapidly expanding strip mall in the suburban outskirts on the northeast flank of the city, NYCC claims to offer a real taste of New York with not only authentic New York style cheesecakes but also pastrami sandwiches. Being a lover of pastrami, I had to go out and try this for myself.

The restaurant is really more of a shack or hut, located between other buildings at the Crystal Design Center. CDC is a design-oriented strip mall located on Ram Intra Road, an already overcrowded road that extends from Ekkamai Road out to the suburbs. Despite the overcrowding, the past five years have seen an explosion of businesses and housing this direction. Perhaps the good news is that with these new shopping centers on the periphery of Bangkok, the traffic on the streets in the core of the city will not get any worse.

The interior of NYCC looks more like a noodle shop with stools and small tables. It isn’t much of a surprise then to learn that NYCC has a sister shop behind it that sells – wait for it – noodles. Framed posters of Broadway shows lines the windows and various New York theme tchotchkes sit for sale on a side shelf. The friendly staff take the orders and deliver the foods. On a weekday afternoon around lunchtime, the place was not very busy.

NYCC’s motto is “cheese will never cease” – I’m not sure what that means. For some reason, it makes me think of an alternative definition of the word “cheese”.

After a few minutes longer than I thought it would take, our sandwiches arrived. I ordered the pastrami and Tawn ordered the chicken club. The sandwiches are monsters, shooting for the “mile high” measurements for which New York deli sandwiches are know. Let’s take a closer look at what we really have, though, from the toothpick down:

The bread was actually pretty good, although it would have been a bit nicer lightly toasted. It wasn’t a nice dark rye but was slightly more substantive than the wonder that passes for bread all too often here in Bangkok.

In the middle, which is where most of the bulk is in this sandwich, is a stack of two types of lettuce, a stack of raw onion, and a stack of tomatoes. The problem here (other than whether or not there should be any vegetables on a pastrami sandwich) is that everything is stacked, so you get a lot of onions in one bite, for example, and no onions in another bite.

At the bottom is the pastrami. I’ll give them credit for tasty pastrami, albeit sliced a little thicker than I like. It was tender and smoky. There was also not much of it, especially when compared with the bread and vegetables. As for the sauce, the sandwich was over-sauced – which is not unusual here in Thailand, with brown mustard (nice) and Thousand Island (wrong – this isn’t a Reuben).

How to rate it overall? Well, for a sandwich that carried a price tag around 340 baht (about $11.40), it was mighty short on meat and might high on everything else… except a pickle, which would have been a nice touch. Now, I’m not a New York, just a frequent visitor. But from what I know of New York pastrami sandwiches, this is what my expectation looked like:

This is a pastrami sandwich from the Carnegie Deli. We can debate which deli is the best, but in my mind, this is a good example of what a pastrami sandwich should be. Lots and lots of pastrami with little or nothing else between the bread. Now, I understand that beef is expensive here and I’m not opposed to paying a good price for something that approximates a real New York style pastrami sandwich. But if I’m going to pay that much money, let’s lose the salad, add a little more meat, and put the sauce on the side.

As for Tawn’s chicken club, it was a similar tower of salad but had a very substantial amount a chicken at the base – probably two breasts’ worth. The meat was bland and instead of being thinly sliced was more slab-like. It was about 250 baht and, from Tawn’s perspective, overpriced.

As for the eponymous cheesecake, a recent dining companion (at another meal) told me she thinks the cheesecakes are flown in from the Cheesecake Factory in the United States. I don’t think that’s the case, but the potion sizes are enough to make you believe it!

We ordered a slice of regular cheesecake with strawberry topping, more than ample for two (or four!) to share. I’ll give them credit for making a pretty passable New York style cheesecake. The consistency is smooth, solid but not too dense, and nicely flavored. It had obviously been frozen previously as the center of the slice was still icy – a faux pas when service cheesecake – but it was better than a lot of the overly airy cheesecake I’ve had in Bangkok.

We ended up with a bill of about 850 baht for two sandwiches, one slice of cheesecake, and two bottles of water. For Bangkok, that’s a pretty pricey meal, especially for a lunch. It was fun to try and NYCC had some things going for it, but not so many that I’d be easily tempted to make the trek out Ram Intra. Instead, I’ll just save my pastrami cravings for my new trip back to the real New York.

Beautiful Sunset

Posted on 12 January 2011 by christao408

This afternoon I had to go to a photo shoot. I’ve been invited to publish some of my entries from this blog on another site, one that is Thailand-specific. To keep a consistent look and feel, the editor asked me to stop by the office and have their photographer shoot a new head shot for my profile. No worries – I’m not going anywhere, just broadening my audience.

On the way home, I noticed that we were in for a gorgeous sunset. The weather has been cool thanks to a system dropping in from China and the breeze, which had been strong the past few days, was very calm today leading to hazy but cloud-free skies. I stopped by Benjakiti Park next to Queen Sirikit Convention Center and shot this picture. It was a beautiful sunset.

Well I’m Certainly Not Fashion Forward

Posted on 2 January 2011 by christao408

This time of year, Bangkok is flooded with tourists from all around the globe. We see Indians in saris and Saudis in dishdasha, Germans in Alpine hiking gear, and Australians in inappropriately skimpy shorts. (Well, not just Australians!) Watching the kaleidoscope of humanity and fashions pass by can make for an entertaining afternoon. A few days ago, however, I had an “oh, my goodness” moment as I changed platforms at Siam Station.

A pair of Japanese men were descending the escalator behind me and out of the corner of my eye I thought one of the men was wearing pajama bottoms. It turns out they were just very colorful drawstring pants. While Tawn mentioned that drawstring pants are in fashion, I’m hard-pressed to think that this might be the combination that fashion prognosticators had in mind.

Regardless of what they thought, he’s certainly more modestly dressed than some of our guests are, and so long as he’s comfortable, that’s the important thing.

Jason and Daniel Visit – Part 1

Posted on 30 December 2010 by christao408

This time of year, when the weather is nasty further north in the hemisphere and the weather is more bearable down here near the equator, Tawn and I find ourselves with an endless stream of visitors. We were fortunate this week to have a pair of unexpected, but very welcome visitors: Jason and his husband Daniel. Jason and I have known each other for a number of years through Xanga but this is the first time we’ve met in person.

The first day we met, I spent several hours playing tour guide, taking them through the city on a few different modes of transportation and then on to the tourist sites of the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. This is something like the “Seven Modes of Transport” tour I did with some recent guests, but with some refinements. Here are some pictures we took along the way:

We began our multi-modal journey at the Art Deco style Hua Lamphong railway station, located on the edge of the old city. The misters along the roof were going full-blast, trying to cool down what was a sunny and warm day. Our journey through the city by rail was only twenty minutes long but it gave us a chance to view a different side of Bangkok life.

The train cars are not air conditioned and are older than any of the three of us. Here, Jason and Daniel wait for the train to pull out of the station.

At one of the stops along the way, I noticed these shoes, sheets, clothes, and chilies that were being dried in the sun. It reminds me of that long-lost Tennessee Williams play, “Chili on a Hot Tin Roof”.

Some of what you see along the train tracks verges on squalor and sadness. This man was squatting barefoot on a wooden shack, a guitar at his side and a vacant expression in his eyes.

From the train we transferred to a canal taxi, racing through the polluted khlong to the end of the line, which is adjacent to the Golden Mount. From there we squeezed into a tuk tuk, a three-wheeled taxi, and weaved through the traffic to Thammasat University, located on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. A short walk down the street from the university was this hidden soi – an alley of antique shop houses that has been roofed in. It is well-ventilated and almost looks like something out of the French Quarter in New Orleans, minus the picture of His Majesty the King.

After lunch we walked a bit further down the street to the Grand Palace. Here are Daniel and Jason in front of a trio of buildings in Wat Phra Gaew, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. This is His Majesty’s personal temple and is the only temple in Thailand that does not have monks’ residences on site.

The three structures in the background are, from left to right, a Sri Lankan style chedi (or stupa) that contains relics of the Buddha; a Lanna (Northern Thai/Laotian kingdom) style library that houses Buddhist scriptures written on palm leaves; and a Khmer (Cambodian) style hall that contains statues of the eight previous kings in the Chakri dynasty. A rehabilitation of the last building was just completed in the previous few days and workers were taking down the last of the scaffolding.

The exterior of the Royal Chapel of the Emerald Buddha is decorated with a row of garuda – a mythical half-man, half-bird that holds in its claws a naga – the multi-headed serpent that sheltered Prince Siddhartha from the elements as he meditated for forty days before gaining enlightenment and becoming the Buddha. (Which means, “the enlightened one”.)

I was trying to be artsy with this photo, taking a picture of the reflection of a wihan – a Buddha statue hall – in the mirrored mosaic tiles of the Chapel of the Emerald Buddha. My attempts to focus on the reflection failed but I think the result is still interesting.

A common theme that we observed, which I hadn’t been aware of previously, is how much Chinese statuary there is on the grounds of the temple. This is a fine example of a traditional Chinese gate, carved in miniature, with the Buddhist scripture library in the background. Throughout the complex we saw warriors, pagodas, gates, lions, and other sculptures in the Chinese style.

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Later in the afternoon we walked down the street to Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. This temple is dotted with dozens of chedis large and small, which contain relics of various major and minor members of the royal family stretching back more than 200 years. I cropped this photo from a larger one as I thought it made for an interesting silhouette.

Sure enough, as is always the case, on the way there a half-dozen different people intercepted us and tried to tell us that the temple was closed. (It is open every day until at least 6:00 pm – actually, I think it is staying open until 9:00 pm these days.) This is a classic Bangkok scam. Do not trust strangers who approach you.

Daniel and Jason in front of the Reclining Buddha, which is 46 meters long and 15 meters high. In answer to a frequent question, the statue was built first and then the hall was built around it.

A popular activity is to donate 20 baht for a cup of small coins, and to drop them into a row of alms bowls, reciting a prayer or giving thanks for a specific blessing as you drop each coin. This picture of Daniel and Jason turned out very nicely, I think. Nice lighting and composition.

This temple is one that tourists tend to miss large portions of. They see the giant reclining Buddha statue and then depart. It is a very large temple, though, and has many areas well worth a look. As we wandered around the quieter portions of the temple, we came across a gardener who was trimming some bushes. His son was conked out nearby, taking a nap on the utility cart. How I wish I could sleep so easily!

After a warm afternoon touring we decided to bypass the long queue for the river taxi and instead hire our own long-tail boat. A little hard bargaining (and a willingness to walk away when my desired price wasn’t met) resulted in the dock manager coming back to me as we sat drinking our water and finally accepting my price. What a nice way to catch a breeze and work our way downriver.

That evening Tawn joined as the four of us had dinner at Soul Food Mahanakorn. Of course we were so caught up in conversation that we forgot to take a picture together!

Stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow…

Delta BKK-IAH and MCI-BKK

Posted on 15 December 2010 by christao408

The past week’s business trip to the United States was brutal. Some helpful wag calculated that of the total trip time, 29.4% of it was spent in transit to/from the US. The formula, for those of you looking for it, was (60 hrs / (60+(6*24))). I’ll share a little bit about the trip over the next few posts, starting with some information about the flights themselves.

Above, a reflection of a Delta 747 at Tokyo’s Narita Airport.

My trip was on Delta Airlines, which offered the cheapest economy class prices by far for the dates I needed to travel. While my company’s policy is business class on flights over 8 hours, I did not qualify for this as technically my agreement with the company is that they will not pay to fly me to the US for meetings at all, since I chose to relocate outside the country. That’s okay – I appreciate simply having a job!

I worked very hard to avoid being routed on one of the planes shown above because the economy class experience on them is very out-of-date. (This holds true for United Airlines’ 747, too.) Instead, I routed myself through Seattle so I would be able to fly on the more up-to-date A330, which features power ports in the front half of economy class and individual seat-back screens and on-demand audio and video throughout the cabin.

My experience on Delta was mixed. The hard product itself – seats, food, entertainment, etc. – was fine although not amazing. For the Bangkok to Tokyo and Tokyo to Seattle segments I was able to get an aisle seat in the front half of the economy cabin, so had about an extra inch of leg room and access to the power ports so I could work on my computer without draining the battery. Additionally, I had an empty seat next to me on both flights. The seats are actually pretty comfortable and the adjustable headrest does a decent job of cradling your head if you try to doze.

Breakfast out of Bangkok – omelet, potatoes, and sausage with fruit and yogurt.

Pre-landing snack – chicken and cheese croissant – before arriving in Tokyo.

On the flight out of Bangkok (6 hours), I traveled with one of the three guests from Kansas City who had been in town the previous two weeks. Since he slept most of the flight, it was okay that we were a few rows apart. While in Tokyo we had a few hours transit time so we ate some ramen at an okay snack shop. The Narita Airport has nice facilities but the food selection within the secure area of the terminal is only okay. There are better restaurants in the public area of the main terminal.

Out of Tokyo for the eight-hour flight to Seattle, I purchased the above box from the noodle shop to supplement the meal served on the flight. What was inside?

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This lovely katsu (fried pork cutlet) sandwich! Oddly enough, the bread doesn’t get greasy or soggy at all, even though it sits in the box for a few hours. It was really, really satisfying to eat mid-flight.

This was the meal served out of Tokyo, beef and (reconstituted) mashed potatoes with a shrimp appetizer and mixed green salad. The best thing about the meal was the coconut sponge cake. Portion size is fine and the quality was decent.

Mid-flight they served a slice of banana bread as a snack. Pre-arrival to Seattle (which was early morning) there was a breakfast sandwich which was quite greasy.

Arriving in Seattle for immigration and customs worked very nicely. Ours was the first flight of the day, arriving shortly after 7:30 am. There was no line at immigration and within about twenty-five minutes of landing I had my bags, was through customs, and had dropped the bags on the through-checked belt to continue to Houston.

With about three hours between flights, I had time for a friend to meet me for breakfast at a nearby restaurant, which was a nice opportunity for a brief catch-up. While there, she gave me a gift she had been holding for me for many months: a pair of banneton, wicker bread proofing baskets that I had talked to her about at some point in the past. This was a funny and much-appreciated gift I will have to blog about soon.

After a busy week in Houston, I flew Southwest Airlines up to Kansas City. In order to construct the least-expensive ticket I could, I routed myself on an “open jaw” ticket on Delta, flying from Bangkok to Houston and then returning from Kansas City to Bangkok. A $100 ticket on Southwest connected the open part of the jaw, resulting in about $350 savings for my employer. This also gave me the opportunity to fly out of Houston Hobby Airport, the smaller airport on the south side of downtown that is nearly monopolized by Southwest.

As part of a promotion with Microsoft Windows, Southwest was offering free pictures of Santa (that came with a brief demonstration of some new photo editing feature from Microsoft). These came with a coupon for $20 off your next Southwest flight (before the end of March). Of course, who could resist getting their picture taken with Santa?

In fact, this picture provided useful evidence the next day when I explained to my nieces how I had managed to make it to Kansas City from Thailand. More on that tomorrow.

After just 30 hours in Kansas City and an overnight inch of snow, I headed for my return trip to Bangkok. The 6:00 am flight out of KC to Salt Lake City was delayed for more than a half-hour thanks to a string of mishaps by Delta. First there was the fact that the potable water in the water trucks was frozen – no coffee or tea and no water for washing hands in the lavatory. (Thankfully they had sanitizing hand gel.) It had been below freezing all of Saturday so why they didn’t leave the heaters on overnight is a mystery to me.

On top of it, the tow bar froze to the aircraft so it took them several minutes of dousing with antifreeze to get it unstuck. You would think Delta has never conducted winter operations out of Kansas City!

The long and short of it is that I missed my connecting flight from Salt Lake City to Seattle. Thankfully I was rebooked on a later flight (and upgraded to first class) that got me into Seattle in time for my connection to Tokyo. However, my layover was no longer long enough to meet with my aunt and uncle for breakfast in Seattle, something I had intentionally scheduled.

Above, the A330 for my flight at a drizzly Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The flight from Seattle to Tokyo was ten hours long, delayed for more than a half-hour because of electrical problems at the check-in podium. In fact, the Seattle operations were a disorganized mess. On the flight itself, I was able to get a bulkhead aisle seat, ensuring that nobody would recline into my personal space, which made the flight reasonable comfortable. I slept for about five hours, waking every so often then dozing off again.

The service was spotty with a crew that was generally unfriendly. One flight attendant, Jamie, had a sour lemon expression the entire flight. During the flight she handed me things (food, water, etc.) a dozen times and each time I made the effort to give her a cheery “thank you”. You see, I think it is my responsibility as a customer to initiate the friendly service I would like to receive. Not once did she say ‘thank you” or acknowledge me in any way, verbal or nonverbal. Terrible, unfriendly service.

Now another flight attendant, Ann, was the complete opposite. She was cheerful and friendly, patting me on the shoulder when I declined a mid-flight treat of an ice cream sandwich (“They taste mighty good in the middle of the flight!” she advised) and laughing with other passengers throughout the service. I am going to write a letter to Delta and offer praise for Ann and a note of concern about Jamie. If even half of Delta flight attendants were as friendly as Ann, I would probably fly them regularly.

The final segment, Tokyo to Bangkok, was delayed by more than an hour. I had time in Tokyo to use the public showers ($10 for thirty minutes) which makes for a nice mid-trip refresh, and also had a chance to get a bite to eat. Comparing the two adjacent concourses, United’s operation out of Tokyo is much more organized and professional than Delta’s, using better signage to explain the boarding process and has a generally more updated look to the gate areas.

I landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 12:10 Tuesday morning. Here’s a tip to help you deal with immigration lines: there are two immigration areas at the Bangkok airport and there are monitors outside each showing what the lines at the other area look like. It is worth the walk of about 150 meters to go to the other immigration area if the queues are shorter. I ended up clearing immigration and customs in less than forty minutes, which for late night at Suvarnabhumi is quite good.

Tawn picked me up and I was home and in bed by 2:30, exhausted and glad to be back. More in the next few days about the Kansas City portion of the trip.

Bicycle Riding in Phra Pradaeng

Posted on 30 November 2010 by christao408

Since our guests are adventurous, outdoorsy sorts, I arranged for a half-day bicycle tour of the “Bangkok Jungle” through Spiceroads. Located just across the river from the Khlong Toei district (which includes the part of Sukhumvit Road that I live in), this jungle is just that – an isolated and undeveloped section of the larger metropolitan area. Joining us were a pair of expats, one American and the other British, who I know.

The reason that Phra Pradaeng, the green patch nearly encircled by the Chao Phraya River, has avoided development is that it is actually part of Samut Prakan province instead of Bangkok. Zoning laws were enacted to limit development in this section of the province. The area is often referred to as the “lungs of Bangkok” and includes a large public park.

Our starting point for the tour was a restaurant near the Thong Lo BTS Skytrain station. We rode through a little bit of city traffic, although mostly on back sois (alleys), and then through the slum area of Khlong Toei down near the port. Finally, we boarded a long-tail boat and left the city behind.

On the other side of the river, any sign of the hustle and bustle of the nation’s capital quickly melted away as we rode along small roads and elevated concrete paths through banana, coconut, and lychee plantations. Except for the occasional view of a skyscraper peeking over the horizon, you could easily forget where you were.

We had time for several breaks, seeing some of the local sites (which are limited), feeding the fish in the park, and trying a Thai snack of sticky rice and starchy bananas steamed in banana leaf.

Back at the pier as we waited for our boat, some local children swam in the edge of the river, showing off for us by performing ever more daring stunts. Here, a double flip into murky waters.

Back near our starting point, I peeked in the front gate of a complex that is usually closed. I don’t know what it is, but it looks almost like a shinto temple. Very beautiful.

Wat Po After Hours

Posted on 29 November 2010 by christao408

More than halfway through our seven different modes of transportation, Matt, Craig, and I ended up arriving at the Grand Palace just as it was closing, so instead we walked down the block to Wat Po, also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. This temple, which tourists usually see after sweltering in the hot sun over at the Grand Palace, rarely gets as thorough a viewing as it deserves.

Predating the founding of Bangkok, the temple houses a 15 meter (46 foot) high, 46 meter (140 foot) long statue of the Buddha in a reclining pose, covered in gold plating with mother of pearl inlays on the soles of its feet.

That the soles of the feet are so prominent seems appropriate, because Wat Po is also the home of traditional Thai medicine, a large portion of which is massage. Thai massage uses a combination of stretching and deep tissue work and can be very therapeutic. In fact, a well-regarded school is located on the temple grounds and my visitors stopped in for an hour-long foot massage.

The temple is in the final stages of extensive renovations, and the entire place seems alive with color and light. Here are a trio of chedis, which contain the remains of various members of the Chakri dynasty. The current king is the ninth member of this dynasty.

New roof tiles and paint seem to almost pulsate with color.

And mirrored tiles catch the sun from every angle.

While there, we came across a group of university students who are studying tourism. They had to film themselves giving a speech (in both Thai and English – the Thai version is on the other side of the cue card) about the temple. I watched for a few minutes and then asked some questions, thoroughly embarrassing the young ladies.

The upside of my guests getting massages was that we were at the temple well after the time that tourists normally leave. The temple’s website still lists the closing time as 5:00 pm but almost half a year ago they extended it to 9:00 pm every night. The temple is beautifully illuminated as the sun goes down and is all the more enjoyable and inspiring when it is almost completely devoid of tourists.

With the sun going down early now that we are heading into winter, the sky quickly went through various shades of blue to pink to purple, making for some amazing contrasts with the vivid hues of the chedis and temple buildings.

There are many spotlights to bring out the details of the structures, including these decorations made from shards of broken Chinese pottery. Almost looks like the decorations on a cake, doesn’t it?

I’ve made up my mind that in the future, I am taking guests to Wat Po around sunset, a perfect time to see the real beauty of the temple without the crowds. Plus, there is a really nice restaurant called The Deck that is just across the street along the banks of the Chao Praya River. It is a nice place for an evening meal as another temple, Wat Arun (the Temple of Dawn), is right across the river and is also lit up at night making a pretty backdrop. Ironically, it looks better at dusk than it does at dawn! (Here’s a picture of Tawn and me dining there a few years back.)

Seven Modes of Transport Around Bangkok

Posted on 28 November 2010 by christao408

Last week I took two of my visiting guests (the third is Thai and was visiting his family instead) around Bangkok to see the sights. Instead of doing the usual things, we spent a good portion of the day exploring the city using different, and often less-touristy, modes of transportation.

The idea occurred to me a few weeks ago. One of the guests is an aviation enthusiast, so I extrapolated that he might also be interested in other forms of transportation. When I’ve previously used other ways to get around the city, I find myself seeing Bangkok through an entirely different light.

The modes of transport used could be varied and there were at least three – bus, taxi, and motorcycle taxi – that we did not try. In the future, I will have to refine this itinerary, but here are the notes from this time.

Mode 1: MRT Subway from Sukhumvit Station to Hualamphong Station

Walking from their hotel to the nearby Asoke-Sukhumvit intersection, my guests and I descended into Bangkok’s five-year old subway for a ten-minute ride to the Hualamphong train station. The subway is clean and modern and the insides of the trains as well as the platform areas are surprisingly free of advertising. A short walk through an underground passage took us to the front entrance of the Hualamphong Railway Station. Trip price, approximately 20 baht each.

Mode 2: State Railways of Thailand from Hualamphong Station to Lat Krabang Station

Our timing was perfect as there was just enough time to buy our 8-baht tickets and get to the platform before the four-car diesel locomotive pulled out of this 1930’s-era station and began the thirty-minute ride to the eastern suburbs of the city. We could have disembarked at an earlier station and shaved some time off our route, but these open-window, unairconditioned carriages (which are older than me) and their passengers provide interesting people watching. My entry about the steam engines the State Railways pulls out for special occasions.

Mode 3: Airport City Line from Lat Krabang Station to Makkasan Station

Also operated by the State Railways, this elevated electric train runs along the same right-of-way as the diesel train, so we retraced our steps. The City Line and the Airport Express share the same track and we disembarked at the brand-new “in-city terminal” where one day passengers will be able to check in for flights, deposit their baggage, and take the 15-minute express train to Suvarnabhumi Airport. 15 baht each but will increase after January 1 to a distance-based pricing scheme. Link to my review of the Airport Express.

A dog taking a nap outside the Petchaburi MRT Station, near the Asoke Pier.

Mode 4: San Saeb Canal Boat from Asoke Pier to Golden Mount

A short walk from Makkasan Station is the San Saeb Canal, a major east-west aquatic artery in this “Venice of the East” and the only one that has regular boat service. The water is murky and the boat engines are very loud, but it is an adventure and provides a view of yet another, much poorer, facet of life in the Big Mango. The end of the line is at the foot of the Golden Mount, the only hill in the city. 11 baht each.

Some pictures from the canal boat:

Craig and Matt and a few dozen other passengers enjoy their ride on the murky waters of the San Saeb Canal.

The boats whiz under various bridges, some so low that the canopied top of the boat must be lowered.

Which explains why the conductors/deck hands wear helmets and are very alert of their surroundings.

Not my guests.

Mode 5: Tuk-tuk from Golden Mount to Tammasat University

We negotiated with a tuk-tuk driver to take us to a riverside restaurant located just outside the gates of Tammasat University. Tuk-tuks are three-wheeled auto-rickshaws that serve as transportation in many parts of town, so named because of the sound of their engines. These are actually pretty dangerous and for the price you pay, a taxi offers greater comfort (air conditioning!) and safety (seatbelts!). We could have taken the tuk-tuk all the way to the Grand Palace but I was hungry so lunch first. 60 baht total, so 20 baht each.

Previous guests (not Craig and Matt) after disembarking from the Chao Phraya River Taxi.

Mode 6: Chao Praya River Taxi from Tha Tian Pier to Sathorn Pier

After lunch we were too late to see the Grand Palace (it closes at 3:30 – don’t believe anyone who tells you it is closed before that time) so we walked to Wat Po, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. I’ll write about that in another entry but once we were finished, a bit after rush hour, we caught a river taxi service from the Thai Tian Pier right near the temple back to Sathorn Pier underneath the Taksin Bridge. Also 11 baht each.

Mode 7: BTS Skytrain from Taksin Station to Asoke Station

We concluded our journey by walking to the nearby BTS Skytrain station. The 10-year old BTS Skytrain is convenient and overcrowded. Thankfully, new four-car trains are entering the system soon and additional cars have been ordered for the three-car trains. From what I’ve read, BTS is also the hold-up in the efforts to create a common ticketing platform (a la Hong Kong’s Octopus card) between the three electric rail systems. Nonetheless, for about 30 baht we made our way back to the Asoke-Sukhumvit junction.

Juggling Guests and Prep Work

Posted on 26 November 2010 by christao408

A trio of guests from Kansas City as well as a guest from New York City are in town. We haven’t had a chance to see the NYC guest yet (hopefully Sunday) but have been showing the KC guests around. We did an interesting little trip in which we tried seven different modes of transportation (subway, railway, airport express, canal taxi, tuk tuk, river taxi, and Skytrain) on our way to the Temple of the Reclining Buddha.

I’ll write more about that trip and share some pictures in the next few days, but I just have to say that it was a really interesting way to see many different sides of Bangkok. Also, today we did a half-day bicycle ride that went from the heart of the busy Sukhumvit district through the slums of Khlongtoey across the river to the urban jungle of Phra Pradaeng. My guests are sure getting their money’s worth!

At the same time, I’m trying to wrap up a few work projects and also get the prep work done for Saturday’s Thanksgiving dinner. I’ve cooked the turkey breasts already, sliced them, and they are sitting in some broth in the fridge. The cranberry-walnut relish is cooking right now. Gravy is made but needs to be thinned and seasoned. Bread cubes cut and toasted for the stuffing, although I won’t cook it until Saturday morning.

Whew! A whole lot going on. For those of you in the US, I hope you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving with your loved ones.

christao408

The adventures of an expat American who moved to Bangkok for his husband.

Tag Archives: Bangkok